Jude Bellingham has once again been included in England’s World Cup squad, but manager Thomas Tuchel sent the midfielder a cruel message on the eve of the tournament.
Jude Bellingham is one of England’s star players ahead of the World Cup (Image: Getty Images)
Manager Thomas Tussel has insisted England can win the World Cup without Jude Bellingham. Real Madrid superstar Bellingham is England’s biggest name, but Tuchel revealed the midfielder is in a three-way battle with Morgan Rodgers and Ebelesi Eze for the starting No. 10 spot.
Bellingham is working hard to start England’s group opener against Croatia on June 17, but Tuchel has made it clear he has a big decision to make.
England manager Tuchel said: “There’s a lot of evidence that we can win football games without Jude and that’s the more important headline. Jude is with us.”
“Jude is in great form, but we have to stop talking about individuals. Jude is in the sweet spot. But Jude alone cannot win this World Cup. That is simply not possible. Jude is in great form.”
Sign up now for the Make Football Great Again newsletter and get the latest World Cup news straight to your inbox!
“No one can win this World Cup alone. We win as a team. What if Jude gets injured tomorrow, I hope he doesn’t.”
“This is a big decision because both players who are playing, or all three players who are playing, Ebbs played as a number eight and he also played on the left wing for us.
“So all three of them are top-level starters and there’s a lot of discussion about them all starting, so we need to get the energy right between them.
“They need to understand that they won’t all start at the same time, that they can play a decisive role when the game is over, and that they can still be upset, angry or disagree with my decisions.
Thomas Tuchel has sent a message to Jude Bellingham (Image: Getty Images)
“But they have to accept that and push their teammates because we’re not playing club football. We’re playing in a preferably nine-game tournament so everything is more important than individual minutes, so we need to push each other.”
“This is how they’re doing at the moment. Jude and Morgan are generally very, very close. They’re competing for this spot. There’s also the possibility of Jude playing another position.”
“He can definitely play in the No. 8 and Morgan can play on the wing. But we have top players in the No. 8 and on the wing as well. We’re not going to go through the tournament with 10 players.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check it out whenever you like. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.
